


I Told You So

by thudworm



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Getting Together, M/M, Misunderstandings, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 21:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13086036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thudworm/pseuds/thudworm
Summary: Holiday Exchange Fill for the prompt: Steve and Tony are out one afternoon on a walk or some such. One of them ends up getting hit on very obnoxiously. The attention is very clearly making them uncomfortable. The other steps in and saves the moment, with an awkward follow up conversation once they're alone again.





	I Told You So

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dapperanachronism](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dapperanachronism/gifts).



It was a typical morning for the Avengers, most of whom were in the middle of having breakfast. There was the usual bickering, over who had put the empty carton back into the fridge, or Bucky and Clint daring each other to steal food from Nat’s plate. Tony was the last to wander in, tablet in hand, already dealing with what Steve assumed was SI business. Without looking up from the StarkPad in front of him, and occasionally mumbling to himself, Tony poured himself a mug of coffee and sat down at the table without spilling a drop. 

“Who wants to come keep me company at this thing Pepper is making me go this afternoon?” Tony asked, still staring at the screen. 

“That depends on what sort of a ‘thing’ it is. I learned my lesson the last time I said yes to a vague invitation like that from you, and had to spend the entire night wearing what must’ve been the most uncomfortable suit in the whole of New York,” Clint said. 

Steve had to stifle a laugh when Tony’s response to that was to stick his tongue out at Clint. “It’s a high school science fair/expo/thing. There are scholarships on offer funded by Stark Industries, which is why Pepper says I have to be there.”

“Bullshit,” Rhodes called out from where he was loading his dishes into the dishwasher. “Pepper isn't making you do this, you're like a kid in a candy store at these things. You'd pout for a week if something came up to stop you from going.”

“Hey Steve,” Bucky said with a shit-eating grin, “weren't you telling me just the other day how you wanted to learn more science stuff?”

“No, I don't think I was,” Steve replied through gritted teeth. 

“I'm sure Steve would  _ love _ to go with you, Stark.” Bucky continued, and Steve was going to make him pay for that the next time they sparred. Thankfully Tony was still paying more attention to his StarkPad than the conversation, oblivious to what Bucky was implying.

Of course Bucky knew about Steve’s massive crush on Tony, and the rest of the Avengers had probably put it together by now as well, but Tony himself still seemed unaware, which Steve was grateful for. 

“So that's a yes from Steve? Anyone else?” Tony asked. 

Knowing looks were exchanged between all of the other Avengers, who all suddenly had unavoidable commitments for the afternoon. In any other situation Steve would have laughed at how blatantly false the reasons were, like Nat claiming she needed to wash her hair, which even Steve knew was only ever a terrible excuse to avoid something; but right now he was just glad they were willing to play along and give him this chance to spend time with Tony one-on-one. Except for Clint, because of course Clint just couldn't help himself, but a sharp elbow to the ribs from Nat was enough to change his answer to a pained “no.”

That was enough to get Tony to look up, finally, but seeing Nat’s serene smile as Clint scowled at her was enough for him to shake his head and decide against asking.

“I'll tell Happy he doesn't need to worry about driving us if it's just gonna be the two of us,” Tony said, before he suddenly swore and jumped to his feet. “Why didn't anyone tell me what time it is. Pepper’s gonna kill me if I'm late to this meeting. Steve, meet here at three?” Tony called over his shoulder as he moved to the elevator. “JARVIS, tell Pepper I'm on my way-” Tony's voice was cut off by the closing of the elevator door, which meant he wasn’t able to hear Steve’s reply of “it’s a date.”

Steve regretted it instantly- just because Tony couldn’t hear it didn’t mean the rest of the Avengers in the room couldn’t. He let his head drop to the table with a thud and braced for the teasing he had just brought down on himself. 

*

Steve thought it would never cease to amaze him, the way the general public failed to recognise any of the Avengers as long as there was a bare minimum of effort put into disguising themselves. Even Tony, who was often on the front cover of magazines and no stranger to the spotlight, was able to wander freely without so much as a second look. 

Of course, being incognito meant they had no explanation for their presence at a random high school’s science fair, something Tony had warned Steve about on the drive. “Word of advice? Be prepared to be stuck making the same small talk with just about every parent there. You’ll definitely be asked about which kid there is yours,” Tony paused and looked at Steve, “but I don’t think anyone will believe you could possibly be the father of a high school age kid. Maybe make up a younger sibling.”

Tony’s advice had proven necessary within the first five minutes of their arrival, and he'd had to tell people about his fictitious little sister several times in the hour or so they'd been here; usually whenever Tony had his attention caught by on the projects, leaving Steve to move on to the next without him. 

This time Steve was on his own because Tony had caught the smell of coffee and gone to find the source. Steve, of course, had noticed the coffee cart when they entered the gym of Midtown School of Science and Technology, but decided against telling Tony that because it was always amusing to watch Tony doing his best impression of a bloodhound, tracking coffee instead of prey.

As Steve finished checking out a functioning vending machine made from cardboard, he realised that it had been more than a few minutes since Tony had left in search of coffee, and he definitely should have been back by now. The coffee cart hadn’t been all that busy when he saw it, and there was no way Tony had failed to find it. It was probably nothing, Tony might have needed the bathroom or just gotten caught in a conversation with an insistent parent; but something seemed off to Steve. Their lives were such that an abduction or kidnapping was a real risk they had to be aware of, no matter how unlikely it seemed at a place like this. 

He found Tony (two coffees in hand) talking to a woman, presumably a mother of one of the students, as he had expected and mentally sighed at himself for immediately considering the worst possible explanation for Tony's delay. It wasn't until he got closer that he saw the signs of tension practically radiating off of Tony. The woman was standing far too close considering she was a stranger, and was seemingly unable to keep her hands to herself. 

Steve didn’t pause to think through his plan (“clearly,” Tony would tease him later), but just acted on instinct. He walked over to the pair, deliberately positioned himself between Tony and the woman, and wrapped an arm around Tony’s shoulder before taking one of the coffees from him and kissing him on the cheek.

“There you are sweetheart, I was wondering what got you held up. Is this a friend of yours?” Steve asked with the blandest fake smile he could muster. 

“Oh, Ms. Derwin here was just telling me about her daughter Emma’s project. It’s one of the ones we haven’t seen yet, along the far side. We really should make our way over there,  _ sweetheart _ .” Tony flashed a sharp smile at him, and Steve knew this was not going to be treated as nothing important between them. Tony was angry with him, and Steve was at a loss as to why. 

Ms. Derwin finally seemed to realise just how unwanted her advances had been, and mumbled an excuse before hurrying in the opposite direction.

“Tony-” Steve wanted to explain himself, but Tony cut him off before he could begin. “No, not here. Well talk about this when we get back to the tower.” 

Steve startled when Tony grabbed his hand and said “you weren't subtle just then,  _ darling _ , and we don't want to attract more attention than we already have. That would just be the icing on the cake if we were found out.”

He let Tony take the lead and followed on as Tony made his way along the final row of projects. Steve had no idea what any of them were, focused more on the feeling of Tony's hand in his, and wishing it could be for real. Tony’s anger stung, and it hurt all the more to think Tony hated even pretending to be in a relationship with him. 

*

The drive back to the tower was one of the most awkward silences Steve could ever recall. The silence persisted as Tony parked the car, and his only response to JARVIS’s greeting was a terse “workshop.”

For lack of a better plan, Steve followed him into the workshop and waited for Tony to be the first to speak. He was still unsure exactly why Tony was so mad at him, and he wanted to avoid digging himself deeper into hole he had unwittingly dug for himself.

Tony was making notes about which students had shown promise for receiving one of the scholarships, from what Steve could see of the screen from where he was standing just inside the doorway. He stood there for 10 minutes until Tony spun around in his chair to face him and burst out with “I had it under control! It’s not the first time someone’s been a bit too friendly with me, and it probably won’t be the last. But even if it was necessary you could have chosen any other way to give me an excuse- faked a phone call or something.” Tony sighed. “At least no one there knew who we were. If they did we’d probably already be the latest hot topic on all the gossip rags. And dealing with those rumours would have been a nightmare of constant paparazzi attention trying to ‘prove’ the relationship was real.” 

Steve had been willing to let Tony vent before responding, but that was too much for him to keep quiet. “I'm sorry the idea of dating me is so offensive to you. I’ll just go, leave you to it.” 

Steve turned and reached for the door, but stopped when Tony called out “Wait! Just… Offensive. You think I’m offended by it.” He shook his head, and then, so quietly Steve doubted he was meant to hear it, Tony said “It’s literally the opposite of offensive.”

Steve moved to where Tony was still sitting, barely daring to believe that Tony had implied what Steve hoped he meant. “Tony. When I…. stepped in, it was because I saw how uncomfortable you were with that woman, and I reacted. I let what I wanted get in the way of thinking it through, and I’m sorry.”

“What you wanted? You mean, you want  _ me _ ?” Tony asked, shocked.

“I’ve been half in love with you for months. Bucky’s been threatening to lock me in a closet with you if I didn’t say something soon.”

“So I guess that means Rhodey was right and I should have done this ages ago.” Before Steve had a chance to ask what ‘this’ was, Tony was kissing him. 

Steve lost track of time for a bit, simply enjoying the feeling of having Tony in his arms and finally being able to kiss him. At some point Tony pulled away and groaned loudly. “We’re going to be hearing ‘I told you so’ for months from them now, aren’t we?”


End file.
